eBay asleep at the wheel, and I get to pay the price

[mjweb7654]

I'm an occasional eBayer, earning a 100% satisfaction rating from buyers over perhaps two dozen items in the last few years.  Then, eBay let me get screwed. 

In early December, my wife wanted to sell her Amethyst bracelet. So I listed it, and it got purchased by an innocent lady from New Mexico. eBay shuffled me into the purchase of the postage, I packed it up, and off it went. 

Never to be seen again. 

The buyer and I both initiated traces for the item through the post office. It has been about six weeks now. The post office admits it can't find it. The even blamed me for shipping it the way I did - apparently there was another option for the same price that would have gotten there in 3 days, according to the kindly postal official. Apparently it was my fault they never delivered. 

I kept the buyer informed. She wanted to wait until after Christmas, thinking it would ultimately arrive. Today, she said she was giving up. I don't blame her. She was sorry because she really hoped to get that bracelet for Christmas. I wanted her to have it too. I issued the refund (about $47 ) immediately. 

So eBay WINS! I paid all my fees, which were deducted from the payment they made to me before the buyer received her item. They never responded to my help requests. In fact I spent TONS of time trying to figure out how to actually get in contact with a human being. But their maze of automated emails was too good. I never got through to a human, so they had no labor cost. Good for them! And now I refund the money to boot.  

Is eBay a Zombie corporation (i.e., one whose profit margin is lower than its interest cost)? I don't know, but they sure are acting like it. They've always been hard to do business with - overly complicated software, etc. I thought some of the improvements were helping a little. Now, it seems like they don't have enough employees to handle the customer service load.  I'm suspect they don't care, and I'm leaning toward shutting down my account. This is just bad business. I would (and have) NEVER treated my own clients like this. 

Michael Webb

mjweb7654

[ebooksdiva]

Ok, so you refunded your buyer because the buyer never received the item they ordered from you. If you refunded you received FVF credit. 

So what is it you are trying to contact eBay about exactly? eBay has nothing to do with your lost package. 

It seems you need to file a lost package claim through USPS.

[onlinecentral]

You should have encouraged your buyer to file an Item Not Received case. Then you would have gotten a refund of your seller fees.

[mr_lincoln]

@mjweb7654   Some information is missing from your original post AND here in The Community there are many volunteer Buyers and Sellers who help folks like you.  Did your shipment have tracking and did you purchase the label through eBay?  If so what does the tracking history say???

When you did the "traces" did you use the USPS Missing Mail piece process?

Was the shipment insured?

Unless the Buyer files an Item not received claim you do not have to refund them.  Once they file the claim you have 4 days to produce the item and a valid tracking number.  Additionally, Sellers can get up to 4 days extension on the claim if they contact eBay by requesting a call back.  I have never had any issues with eBay calling me back in a timely manner when I request them to do so.

As it relates to eBay they really have nothing to do with this unless the USPS web site shows a tracking history and eBay does not.  The other thing that can not be discounted is carrier theft ... yes, that happens and I am sure more often before the holidays.  See the article below from a few years back.  I assume you did not mention to the Postal clerk what you were shipping right?  Or did they ask you? 

I and others will be sorry this happened to you but it sounds like something unusual happened.

[dhbookds]

You chose Parcel select as the only option for shipping.............which has no automatic insurance.......did it ever occur to you that the item could be lost/never delivered?  Did you ever question what would happen in that event? 

You're correct that you lose all the way around........the fees/the item/and the money........frankly, because you didn't understand what you were doing.........ebay's fault or yours? 

[fab_finds4u]

Another reason to use 3 day Priority Mail is it would've been covered by the built in insurance that comes with using Priority Mail if the PO lost the package.

[dbfolks166mt]

     How did you ship this? If it was through USPS and falls under one of the insured delivery classes you can file a claim with USPS for the lost package. Following is the timeline you have to file in. USPS is pretty good about paying for lost packages as long as you file before the deadline. If you are late forget it. 

[r_lresale]

@mjweb7654 

The buyer and I both initiated traces for the item through the post office. It has been about six weeks now. The post office admits it can't find it. The even blamed me for shipping it the way I did - apparently there was another option for the same price that would have gotten there in 3 days, according to the kindly postal official. Apparently it was my fault they never delivered. 

The post office wasn't "blaming" you for how you shipped it or saying it was your fault they/it didn't get delivered. They admitted it was lost their fault, however, you shipped parcel select which does NOT include insurance. The 3 day shipping is priority mail which automatically includes $100 insurance. Since the package was officially lost you would have gotten your money back.

[1tuna]

it appears that things worked out the way they are supposed to for the buyer

I am not familiar with parcel select but usps 1st class would have been just fine for a low cost bracelet that weighs little

I ship 2000 packages a year by 1st class and woud never use priority, its not worth the extra cost if you ask me

count your blessings that its only $47..many sellers lose much more

ebay is not going to help with a missing package when you are the seller

things worked out the way they did because the package went missing which is a rare occurrence with USPS in the USA

@mjweb7654 

[fern*wood]

Did you look at the breakdown of your refund?  I've never refunded a buyer without the fees being credited.  My actual refund will reflect that math.

I blame ebay for lots of things, but I've never considered trying to blame them for one of my packages going missing or not helping me with the situation.  Ebay helps me sell things, I'm responsible for getting them to my buyers.   Sometimes we lose, but knowing the different methods of shipping is your responsibility and will save you money.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

I'm just curious why a story from 7 years ago has any relevance? I don't think the OP's bracelet is part of that.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I'm still trying to work out how ebay was "asleep at the wheel" in this scenario.

[mjweb7654]

The buyer traced the package. USPS admitted it was lost:

ebay USPO Fail to Deliver.jpg

Post Office never did anything else.  

I suppose you are saying I should dig around their website or even visit the post office to file a claim for my $47 loss. Maybe so. But my time is worth more than that. And I have rarely had decent service at the post office, most of the time they do not do anything helpful. So I am unlikely to follow up on this. 

[mjweb7654]

> Did your shipment have tracking and did you purchase the label through eBay?  If so what does the tracking history say???

Here you go: 

ebay USPO Fail to Deliver.jpg

> When you did the "traces" did you use the USPS Missing Mail piece process?

I don't know. The buyer had already initiated a trace, so when I tried to initiate a trace from my end, the website refused to give me any information, saying my ID did not match the ID of the person who initiated the trace. 

> Was the shipment insured?

No. eBay encouraged me to use the cheapest shipping possible (it is harder and more complicated to set up non USPS shipping when setting up an auction). In hindsight I will never do that again. 

> Unless the Buyer files an Item not received claim you do not have to refund them. 

This all gets very complicated, and all I was trying to do was make sure my buyer was treated fairly. As soon as I got her message that, after waiting six weeks she was going to give up, I refunded her money immediately. 

As to the USPS employees stealing, no doubt it happens. Nothing I can do about it. This whole experience just reconfirms my past experiences that USPS is a moribund, fossilized institution that sucks up money and never, ever improves. And eBay is doing nothing to protect is sellers, as far as I can tell. 

MW

[mjweb7654]

> frankly, because you didn't understand what you were doing.........ebay's fault or yours?

Yea, my ignorance. I agree. 

As far as eBay - it is buyer beware for sure. I worked hard over the last few years to make sure I had a good reputation with buyers. Obviously, eBay isn't too interested in sellers like me.

So, I will just stop selling stuff through eBay.